What to expect when switching from Windows to Mac?

• Having a cluttered desktop slows down the system. Always good to keep a clean desktop.
• Programs can easily be started by pressing "command + space" and typing the name of the program. (This opens up spotlight and searches for the program very fast.)
• No need to defrag. The system defrags itself at a moment when the computer isn't used intensively. (Not so sure about this, but I have never ever defragged.)

You should expect to have less problems, and you will have more reliability. You may experience that not all of Windows software will work on Macs, but neither will the viruses!

You can expect an extremely fast boot time compared to your windows machine, especially if you had vista on it. You can also expect no "freeware" or "trialware" when you boot up for the first time, and a catchy intro movie when you boot up the first time lol. Similarities...hmmm, well spotlight is similar to the search function that microsoft copied from apple and put into vista & 7. Also, both machines can run Windows (if you have a windows install disk). Everything is on the opposite side on a mac (Close window button on the left instead of right, icons on right of desktop instead of left.) Also, you now have a Dashboard, which is handy for useful widgets. And that's what I can think of off the top of my head. I hope you enjoy your experience with your new iMac!

There are quite a few differences.

1. I find that I use keyboard shortcuts a LOT more in MacOS. I think this is because a lot of the keyboard shortcuts make more sense as well as most of them are modifiers off of the command key and not the control key. My left thumb hits the command key and then I use my fingers to hit q,w,e,t,a,s,d,z,x,c,v,b etc. (for a new person command + those keys are, quite, close window, eject, open new tab, select all, save, deselect in photoshop, undo, cut, copy, paste, bold).

2. Use the dock smartly, it is your friend. I put my most common programs on the dock, but I also put an alias of my apps folder so I can get to any app I have as well as I use the folder that tells you the last 10 apps you've launched. I use that functionality more than almost anything.

3. When you empty the trash. It is gone. Period.

4. Don't try to force your windows style onto the macos. I find that so many people that have used a mac and hated it was because they were windows users for so long and didn't like that the MacOS has the buttons on the left of the window or the don't understand the point of the menu bar at the top of the screen. So, they quite. Be patient and open minded. The MacOS does most things in a very intuitive way.

5. If you get stuck as for help just like you already have and if you think that there is a better way to do something, someone in the mac community probably already built an app to fix it. An example is the full screen window problem. It can be frustrating to have to manually size change a window when it took one click in Windows. Well someone else thought so too and there is a program called RightZoom that makes the green button on every window able to make the window full screen.

6. Use expose and spaces. Especially if you have a multibutton mouse. I have a Logitech G9 and I have mapped spaces and window expose linked to two of the buttons. Wow! Is it a huge time save to be able to snap back and forth between apps and spaces when you are working on multiple things.

7. My last thing is that if you can afford it, get a second monitor. Window's does very well with two monitors, but the MacOS has had that capability for a long time and they do it right. I would highly suggest a second monitor even with a 27" Imac. You can get any monitor you want. Doesn't have to be an Apple. Also, you might need a mini-displayport to DVI, HDMI, or VGA adapter. Go to monoprice.com for one. They are the best and cheapest.

Hope you have fun doing the switch. I know that the vast majority of people who have an open mind and switch never go back to Windows. Good luck.

That hardest thing for me when I switched over was just worrying about old windows problems. Like it freezing. or getting slow and virusy. It was actually hard for me to except that it would actually work properly for quite awhile. But eventually, I got use to things working right :) lol, its sad.

You can expect an empty wallet.

If theres any applications you plan on having for both platforms (let's say Photoshop or even Firefox for example) you'll notice almost no differences in the actual applications.

What's different is in the actual operating system, getting things configured, figuring out how to do networking, etc. It's different, but not a major learning curve.

The "When you close a program, it doesn't completely quit, like it would in Windows" - Well if you just click the 'x' on the window then it will just close the window but NOT the application. If you want to fully close an application hit Cmd + Q.

If you find there are Windows apps you simply must run, you can easily install a licensed copy of Windows in another partition on your Mac's hard drive using the Mac OS X's built-in "Boot Camp" feature. This will allow you to choose which operating system, Mac OS X or whatever Windows version you installed, to boot into at a given time.

If that's not enough, you can use a virtualization software like VMWare Fusion, Parallels or one of the free ones that come highly recommended; these allow you to launch Windows apps without leaving OS X, and while there is a performance hit (especially noticeable in graphics or CPU-intensive apps) it can be handy as well.

I use both Boot Camp and a virtualization software on my iMac.

FYI:

• You can manually resize any window in OS X to fill the full screen.
• You can drop stuff on the desktop just like in Windows, if you like. You can also even hide the dock and just use Spotlight, the magnifying glass icon in the upper right of the OS X active screen/monitor. Start typing any app and before you've finished typing its name it and a list of other apps, files, etc. will display for you to pick. Frankly, I use this more than the dock!
• You can completely close programs in OS X by clicking Command and Q at the same time to quit the app completely.

To be honest a lot of it is "similar" mostly 90% of what you know on Windows is just slightly different on Mac going from the Finder to the web browser ect. In a week you will be used to it. The most similar thing really is dealing with files and most keyboard shortcuts or just command instead of control ex: cut copy paste print.